


we are travelers (constantly moving forward and looking back)

by hearden



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda, Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mass Effect Fusion, Gen, and the boys make small appearances, there's trimberly and tomberly there if u squint but mostly it's just kim gen fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 20:04:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12660498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: There is nowhere else to go but to the stars.(aka a glimpse into mass effect au in celebration of n7 day)





	we are travelers (constantly moving forward and looking back)

**Author's Note:**

> (Minor-ish spoilers for Mass Effect: Andromeda, but nothing more than the first hour or so of the game and, even then, details are skimmed over.)
> 
> I wanted to do something for N7 Day, but I really only write Power Rangers anymore which means... AU that takes place in Mass Effect! I've got ideas for expanding it, but I really don't need more things to do sooooo this is the only work that'll exist in this universe for now.
> 
> Happy N7 Day and here's to 10 years of Mass Effect!

The stars are empty.

Kim spends days familiarizing herself with the sounds of the Ark Hyperion. She walks down its corridors, her footsteps echoing off of the metal floors. There's plenty of lounges for crew members to relax, and an empty one is where someone finds her in a spare half hour the day of launch.

Her back is to the door, but she hears it slide open, easily, as well as the pause of someone's breath.

"Don't leave," she calls out, still looking at the stars.

Or rather the lounge window that she's set to play a screensaver of stars -- a screensaver that came from the Ark's database.

The stars aren't fulfilling enough, but it's better than alternating shots of nature. It's better than the actual reality that they haven't the Milky Way yet.

"I didn't know there was someone else in here," a girl's voice says back, and Kim turns around.

The dark-haired girl standing in the doorway has a small frame but stands confident yet casual. A grey mechanic's uniform is unzipped, showing a dark yellow shirt, and the top half and sleeves are tied around her waist, preventing Kim from seeing a name patch.

"Yeah, no, I'm just… thinking," Kim says, jabbing her thumb at the window behind her, "Stargazing."

A corner of the girl's mouth twitches, almost into a smile, and she adjusts the yellow beanie atop her head.

"You're the Pathfinder's daughter, right? Kim?" the girl asks with curious eyes, "I've seen you around. With him and Jason."

Kim nods, shrugging, "Yep, that's me."

It's no secret what she's leaving behind here, but thankfully, the girl doesn't ask. Everyone knows, though. Even the Pathfinder's family isn't immune to gossip.

The girl leans against the doorway, looking past Kim at the star-filled window. "What d'you think it'll be like?" she asks, her eyes already far off and distant.

Kim chuckles and shakes her head, "Would it be cliched to say a brave new world?"

"A little bit," the girl shrugs, "But fitting."

A few moments of silence pass. The girl breaks her gaze away from the stars and gives Kim a casual farewell salute, "I should get going. Got a lot of final round checks to do."

Kim smiles, "I'll see you on the other side, then…" She trails off, waiting for a name.

"Trini," the girl offers.

"Nice to meet you, Trini."

Trini gives her the smallest of smiles, "See you in the brave, new world, Kim."

 

* * *

  

She wakes in Andromeda, not to stars, but to her brother, trapped in a coma.

It feels weird to be in the armory, suiting up without him. She grabs her helmet and tucks it under her arm, ready to leave, but Billy pulls her back. He taps Jason's locker door once and squeezes her shoulder, reassuringly. "For good luck," he says.

Kim nods. "For good luck," she echoes and taps the locker door as well.

 

* * *

  

The stars in Andromeda are poisonous. Malicious.

Habitat 7 is a bust.

They are not welcome here.

Her dad -- _Jason's_ dad -- dies, and she spends hours in one of the infirmary bathrooms, throwing up her lunch.

Billy hasn't been taking it well, but Tommie would be feeling it the hardest, she thinks, despite the practical, dealing-and-moving-on front that the lieutenant had put on after returning from planetside.

The thought makes her even sicker to her stomach, that she's not checking up on Tommie, but rather holing herself up in a bathroom when she should be helping a friend deal with the loss of a colleague and mentor.

There's a knock on the stall door. Kim groans. "Go away," she mutters.

Tommie's voice floats through the steel barrier between them, "Just wanted to check up on you. See how you're doing."

"I feel like an asshole," Kim answers, leaning her head against the wall.

A pause. "Can you open the door and let me in?"

"No."

"Kim, please?"

Grumbling, Kim leans up and reaches for the door lock, disengaging it. The lock clicks, and the door slides open.

Tommie stands there, arms crossed, fully changed into her casual uniform.

There's a bandage on the side of her neck, probably from one of the skirmishes planetside.

"How're you doing?" Kim asks, nodding at the bandage.

Tommie shrugs, "It hurts, but it'll heal."

Kim looks away, "What about everything else?"

A sigh. "There was nothing else you could've done--"

"Dad-- _Sam_ gave his life for me," Kim mutters, shaking her head, her heart clenching, "And _when_ Jason wakes up, he's gonna wake up to nothing."

"He's gonna wake up to you."

Kim scoffs, "His family's dead."

Tommie squats down and looks at Kim until she meets her gaze. "We're all family, Kim," she holds her hand out to help her up, "And that means we all stick together, right?"

Kim takes a deep breath and takes Tommie's hand, "Right."

 

* * *

 

After Eos, she presses a button that wakes Trini up.

It's definitely favoritism and not morally right of her as a Pathfinder to be waking specific people up, but Kim shoves that moral conscience to the side. She's been patient with plenty of other people on the Nexus begging and pleading with her to wake their relatives up, despite the fact that they _shouldn't_ because there's a protocol and order to all of these things.

Regardless, she bends the rules a little.

However, there's more pressing matters to attend to, so she isn't there when Trini is taken out of cryo-sleep. Kim wouldn't want to be the bearer of bad news, anyway, that their brave, new world is actually a hellhole set on killing them all.

 

* * *

 

Huffing and panting, she drags herself up the landing ramp of the Tempest and throws her helmet off, hurling it across the loading bay.

Hands are on her shoulders, helping her up, and she opens her eyes to Zack's wild grin.

"You're insane," she manages to breath out as her first words to him after his… stunt would be too nice of a word.

"But you didn't _die,_ did you?" he asks, proudly, puffing out his chest.

Kim punches him in the shoulder, "That's hardly the point!"

Beside her, Billy and Tommie are busy taking their helmets off as well but are being far, far more respectful of their equipment than she is.

"Hey," Billy asks once he catches his breath, "If you're here, who's flying the ship?"

Zack waves a hand, "Nah, you're good. I've got it on autopilot."

Tommie grumbles, "That doesn't make me feel any better."

 

* * *

 

When it's all finally, finally over, they're safe, and Jason is awake and healthy, she visits Trini at her new station down in the engineering room.

"Hey," she greets, leaning against the open doorway, "How's settling in?"

Trini doesn't turn around from the console she's standing at, but it's good to see that she's made herself comfortable in the Tempest already. Her uniform is tied around her waist as Kim's used to seeing it, and she's still wearing her yellow beanie.

"Hey," Trini says back, tapping away at the console, "This is _much_ better than Eos."

"Oh, yeah? What's so bad about Eos?"

Trini snorts, and Kim can practically hear her rolling her eyes, "You mean besides the heat, the Kett attacks, _and_ the stupid bureaucrats? At least, here, I get to work on a ship. Only con is Zack keeps messing with every suggestion I have as if _I_ can't do my job better than he can do my job."

Kim shrugs, "It's _his_ ship."

Trini finally turns around and cross her arms, tilting her head. "No, it's _your_ ship, Pathfinder."

She can't help the smile that comes onto her face.

After a moment, Trini returns her smile, fully.

**Author's Note:**

> title from the 2015 N7 Day video that broke me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn98FdSg-Fo
> 
> not all of the characters exactly filled certain roles, but billy was liam, tommie was cora, zack was kallo, trini was gil, kim was sara, and jason was scott


End file.
